No One to Blame But Yourself
by greyscalecervol
Summary: The story of two ill-fated felines who's paths have been twisted from start to end- They are Rowanpaw and Blackpaw. Through their journey full of greif, love, and death, they will turn the clans to bloodshed and tears and become the most powerful duo in the forest. And they find is no one to blame anymore for their misery. Good intentions are not always a defense for our actions.
1. Chapter 1

The bloodstained regal gazed down upon the fallen she-cat, hatred burning beneath the satisfaction in his cold, sharp glare. His sharp claws pierced the cool earth, frigid air swirling around his darkened frame rapidly as he began to circle around the limp body. He scanned over her pelt as once a beautiful winter white, slowly became soaked in a deep flowing crimson as she slowly bled to death on the ground. She'd turned her head weakly to stare up at him, the light in her deep blue eyes now faded and dull.

"You did this to yourself," she managed to rasp, a squick of hatred flickering onto her expression, slowly forming into an expression of twisted joy as she had seen the words strike him. "You deserve this."

He stared down at her blankly, reflecting over what she had said before laying his claws down upon her forehead and sinking them into her flesh. "So I do," he murmured to himself, turning his empty gaze towards the dense pine needles that blotted out the sky. "I'm sorry... I tried."

The evening was warm and bright, the glowing orange sun covering the deep green pine forest in a welcoming golden glow as it crawled its way ever so slowly towards the horizon. Shrill chirping of songbirds shattered the nearly nonexistant silence spasmodically, the atmosphere easygoing and peaceful. A young tom with a coat brown as the trunk of a rowan tree and specked with deep chestnut flecks crouched low in the long grass, facing his opponent- a charcoal striped feline nearly his age and size. His golden eyes narrowed, weight shifting onto his hind legs as he prepared himself to strike out. His long, thin tail whipped behind him like a cut power line, betraying his childish glee.

"Steady yourself, Rowanpaw," a deep grey she-cat spoke firmly from within the undergrowth, watching the two young apprentices diligantly. "Don't move your tail around so much, and don't forget to get a firm grip on the dirt."

The apprentice spoke no words, but adjusted his position accordingly, struggiling to keep his form stiff and rigid as he waited for the first move to be made impatiently. His lips curled back over his pointed white rows of teeth, prepared to defend himself at any moment.

"Give it up, Blackpaw," he teased, trying to provoke him. "I'll never lose to you."

"You mean like, the other 47 times I've beaten you?" He sneered back, raking the dirt with a paw.

"We haven't even sparred 40-!"

The apprentice's voice was cut off as he saw his opponent spring into the air above him, his dark form blocking out the little sunlight that filtered through the branches. His gaze widened in surprise a split milisecond before he regained composure, hinglegs pushing back against the ground swiftly and launching himself head first into the apprentice's ribcage, knocking the wind out of his opponent's lungs and sending him sprawling backwards onto the ground. He landed on top of him, but feel flat on his side, smothering his sparring partner without noticing.

"Oof!" the apprentice grunted painedly as he felt his friend's weight land on top of him, trying to drag himself out from underneath. "You're-crushing me, mouse-brain!"

"Oh, am I?" He inquired, his voice dripping with a fake, overplayed innocence as he dug his elbow into his ribcage.

"Hey," he choked, grunting in dull agony.

"Perhaps deciding on you two as sparring partners wasn't the best idea," the young warrior purred softly with amusement, appearing from the dense foliage and shoving Rowanpaw off of the poor apprentice. "You two will never learn to be proper warriors if you aren't serious about your training."

"Pff, you're hardly 3 moons older than us!" Rowanpaw retorted jokingly, picking himself off the ground and shaking the dust off of his pelt vigourously.

"That may be so," she replied briskly, helping the charcoal apprentice off of the ground. "But I am a warrior now, and I take my duties very seriously."

"You're no fun anymore, Shorttail." He huffed, grooming the newly aqqcuired tangles out of his chest fur with his rough tongue. "Besides, when me and Blackpaw are warriors like you, we'll be twice as good as any cat ever was! Right, Blackpaw?"

"I'm... not so sure." he replied hesitantly, glancing to the side. He sat down, curling his tail neatly around his paws. "I mean, the greatest warriors... hey would belong to LionClan, wouldn't they? They were twice as big and strong as any forest cat who ever lived..."

He gave the unsteady apprentice a playful shove, purring to himself. "Aw, cmon, them? Why, they probably couldn't take down rusty old Hawkmask."

The apprentice's gaze became flooded with fear at the mention of the name, his legs quivering for a moment. "Can we not talk about him here...?"

"Come now, you two," Shorttail interrupted, breaking the two apart irritatedly as she glanced at the sky. "The sun is falling. Make yourselves useful and help me take our prey back to camp, would you?"

The three cats navigated their way side by side back to camp through the maze of trees as the sun fell over the horizon and painted the sky hues of soft lavender and bright peach, pieces of prey from the early day tucked tautly beneath their chins and clamped in their jaws. The sun had just barely finished sinkining in the sky when they had arrived at camp, made in a thick bush of ancient thorns that had been carved by their ancestors. Carefully they raised themselfs onto their haunches and leapt through a hole in the prickly branches, landing safely onto the lichen coated ground.

"You've been a while," a deep voice echoed, eminating from a rather thick branch above them. A dark russet feline came falling feet- first from the branches, landing squarely in front of them. His pine green gaze was both weary and wary, seeming to stare through the trio.

"We thought we would get in a sparring session before we came back," Shorttail responded smoothly, dipping her head respectfully to the deputy and dropping the prey at his large paws. Her tail gestured for the apprentices to do the same.

The deputy nodded, leaping swiftly up to his place on the tall branch. Shorttail dismissed the two apprentices to their den curtly, walking off to chat with a group of older warriors.

Rowanpaw yawned, stretching out inside the den and falling down beside Blackpaw. He curled his tail over his paws, stretching out his forelegs in front of him. Blackpaw curled up at his side, leaning against him.

"Don't worry, Rowanpaw," Blackpaw comforted him, trying not to yawn as he spoke. "You'll be a great warrior some day, I know it."


	2. Chapter 2

"Wake up, mousebrain," a quiet, yet familliar voice ran through Rowanpaw's ears, sounding mildly irritated.

"Hrmhm?" Rowanpaw let out a loud yawn, his legs stretching out in front of him as he gazed wearily up at a disgruntled Blackpaw.

"There's a clan meeting," Blackpaw hissed lowly, pushing him off of the ground.

Rowanpaw stumbled about tiredly, blinking his heavy eyelids and turning his gaze to their leader, perched upon a branch above a cluster of various clanmates. He shook himself awake, speed walking over to the group and sitting himself down beside a snowy white apprentice. The deputy gave a firm nod to the leader, whom then begun his speech.

"Cats of Brambleclan," the elderly tom begun, scanning the crowd warily. "It has come to our attention that Mistclan cats have been hunting over our borders- just beside the old willow tree. Any Mistclan warrior spotted near our borders is to be terminated."

Mixed murmurs ran through the crowd.

"I'll murder any Mistclan warrior that comes within a mile of me personally," Rowanpaw hissed lowly, turning his gaze to the she cat beside him. His claws unsheathed and kneaded the ground. "You can be sure of it."

She simply purred in amusement. "Don't let Shorttail hear you say that."

"Shorttail? She dosen't know anything about pride, or how to be a true warrior."

"That's no way to treat your mentor!"

"You're a medicine cat's apprentice, of course you wouldn't understand."

"In addition," The leader carried on, cutting off the roar of voices that had overtaken the camp. "Our medicine cat has recieved a prophecy. We cannot be too sure of what it means quite yet, but in the mean time, it is advised for no cat to leave the camp alone. Apprentices must be escorted by two warriors. Dismissed."

Slowly the group began to split up, cats paired off in threes or fours as they discussed the contents of the clan meeting, filling the air with hostile whispers and foul rumors. The white aprrentice stood there, glaring at Rowanpaw.

"How could you say that?" She hissed through her teeth, cuffing him on the ear. She turned away before he could give a response, skulking off to help the medicine cat with an elder who had twisted his paw the previous day.

Rowanpaw huffed, turning away from her to come face to face with Blackpaw.

"Shorttail says shes gonna take us hunting with your mum," he mewed excitedly, completely oblivious to their small conversation prior. "Right by the old willow tree! We're gonna help remark the borders."

"Ahh, yes," Rowanpaw cheered, forgetting about what he had said. "I hope we come across some Mistclan warriors on the way. Man, I'll really show em-"

"We won't come across any Mistclan warriors," a firm voice cut in, belonging to a tall ginger tabby who loomed above both of them. She glared down at them harshly, then let out a soft purr. "They'd know better than to mess with you, Rowankit." She ran her tongue over her son's ear, causing him to shrink back in embarassment.

"Mum!" He whined, pushing her away with a paw. "I can groom myself."

"Your fur _is _a bit of a mess, Rowanpaw," Blackpaw mewled quietly, staring at his matted coat of fur and trying to hold in a loud purr.

"Shut up..."

"Alright, you three," Shorttail purred, walking past the group and flicking her tail tip for them to follow along.

The four of them walked close together through the crisp morning dew, their paws damp from treading on the grass. The sun had just begun rising when they neared the old willow, a heavy fog clouding their vision. The air was thick with the smell of wet grass and pine needles, masking the scent of foreign cats lying hidden in the undegrowth. Velvetnose stuck out her long tail in front of the group, bringing them to a sudden hault as the willow tree came in sight.

"What is it, mum?" Rowanpaw whispered, but was shushed by his mother firmly.

"Do you hear that?" She murmured to Shorttail. Each one of the four strained their ears to the silence, and soon, a hushed sound of whispering breath ran coldthrough their ears, their minds on the brink of fear.

A sharp cry pierced through the silence, and soon claws tore through their flesh, dark shapes emerging from the thickened grey fog. Pained cries rang through the forest, and a battle soon erupted between the assasins and the patrol. Velvetnose grabbed a younger feline's legs tightly in her jaws, pulling him crashing down onto a root jutting out from the dirt and causing him to screech in pain.

"Die, Mistclan scum," Rowanpaw hissed, lowering his head so that it was level with his ribcage and ramming into an older warrior. He felt a bunt blow to his head, and soon he found himself pinned to the ground, kicking and screaming. His hindlegs whipped at the pale warrior's sofft belly flesh, claws shredding at his fur in rapid motions. The warrior let out a sharp hiss, striking him across the muzzle with a curved paw. Rowanpaw managed to catch the paw between his teeth, tightening his grip and pressuring the wrist. He pulled it the wrong way, tearing at the soft pawpads until they bled out into his mouth. He gagged on the metallic taste of blood, pushing his two fore paws against the warriors ribcage and pulling his head back to keep him away. He felt the paw being torn from his mouth as the warrior's weight flew off of him, the flash of a blured shape flying above him. He twisted himself upwards, turning his head panickedly to Blackpaw, being shredded by a Mistclan apprentice.

"Rowanpaw!" He cried, struggling futily to push the apprentice off of him.

Rowanpaw let out a raging screech, becoming a blur as he slammed the apprentice off of him. His claws flew swiftly, striking his enemy's eyes in quick, repetitive motions, tearing through the eyeball and causing blood to seep out from his eyelids, blinding him. Rowanpaw's own vision clouded as his ears roared with blood, feeling his teeth sinking into the flesh of his opponent. He felt the body slide out from under him, the screaming slowly fading from his ears. He turned to face his clan's reinforcements approaching behind them, driving the group away. He gazed around in horror, noticing his bloodied clanmates. He stumbled dizzily, spasms of pain pulsing through his body as he began to become aware of his own wounds. He fell unconscious, hitting the ground with a softened thud.


End file.
